Twin with port wine stain on face says he feels ‘lucky’ to be different and now champions self-acceptance after coming out as gay

A man with a port wine stain covering half his face has said he has always felt “lucky” to be different and now uses his social media platform to encourage self-acceptance – something he feels even more passionate about since coming out as gay in 2022.

Maseo Padilla, a 23-year-old video editor living in Lisbon, was born with a vascular birthmark caused by blood vessels developing differently in the womb, which he said looks like red “watercolour”.

Originally from Oregon in the United States, Maseo grew up seeing his port wine stain as an “angel kiss”, thanks to parents who made him feel proud of the mark that also set him apart from his identical twin, Quel.

He said he has never felt self-conscious about the birthmark and that even when strangers stare, it only makes him feel prouder of it.

He began sharing his birthmark on TikTok in 2020, and a video comparing himself to a cow soft toy went viral in 2022 – he now has more than 64,000 followers.

Maseo told PA Real Life: “I think people with birthmarks are born with artwork on their skin and it’s so beautiful to me.

“It makes you more memorable and unique.

“Compared to my birthmark, coming out wasn’t so easy to accept, and now I just want to accept all of myself.”

Maseo was born with a port wine stain – according to the NHS, this is a flat, red or purple mark on the skin.

It is a vascular birthmark caused by the abnormal development of blood vessels in the skin.

The change in the blood vessels is caused by a mutation that occurs early in pregnancy, while the baby is developing in the womb.

This genetic change is not inherited and is not known to be related to anything that happened during pregnancy.

Maseo explained: “It almost looks like watercolour, and it spreads from the right of my face, downwards, and then spreads backwards towards my ear and my neck to my shoulder and back of my head.

“It’s red but goes even darker, like a dark red or purple, in the cold.

“It feels the same as the rest of my skin, but for some reason acne doesn’t appear on the birthmark – so it’s nice not having to worry about a quarter of my face!”

Maseo has an identical twin brother, Quel, and growing up, his birthmark was the “one way” their parents could tell them apart.

From a young age, his parents told him that his birthmark was an “angel kiss” and he did not feel self-conscious of it.

“My parents poured a lot of love into me, and then always just spoke so positively about my birthmark and made me feel proud of it,” he added.

At school, other children would ask him what it was, but Maseo was “never fazed” and was mostly comfortable answering their questions.

Maseo said: “I don’t even remember a time where I’ve been really discouraged by comments, and I wouldn’t ever say I’ve been bullied for it.

“But I remember once I was at a play centre and, this wasn’t the first time this happened, where a kid asked pretty bluntly if I had a rash or poison oak.

“He had a tone with me so I told him it was poison oak, and I rubbed my birthmark and rubbed it on him and he ran away!”

As Maseo got older, he continued to be comfortable with his birthmark and cannot “recall a time” he wanted to cover it up.

“I’ve always felt so special to be born with it and just lucky to have it and I forget it’s there,” Maseo explained.

Maseo only felt like he “remembered” he had it when his twin visited him while he was living in Lisbon in 2025 and pointed out that strangers were “staring” at him.

“I just thought people stared in Lisbon and I forgot I was different but I think it just made me even prouder to have it,” he said.

Maseo is “passionate” about encouraging others with birthmarks to love themselves and embrace them.

In 2020, he posted a video on TikTok, under the handle @maseo0o, using a filter that emphasised his birthmark by highlighting it in red and the video received more than 280,000 views.

“I got a lot of comments and messages from people talking about how cool it was that I was proud of it, and of course, there were a lot of comments that were negative things too,” Maseo explained.

“The positive comments made me have an even bigger feeling of gratitude.”

In 2022, he made a TikTok joking that he looked like a Squishmallow cow due to his patches of colour.

The video received 9.7 million views, and he gained 5,000 followers in a few days.

Maseo now has more than 64,000 followers and regularly posts about his birthmark, connecting with other creators with birthmarks.

He plans to continue posting and, in January, had a photoshoot to highlight the birthmark in an “artistic way”.

He added: “Also a big part of my journey, and why I’m stepping up and feeling more compelled to be posting and sharing my message, is because I grew up gay and I had only accepted that a couple of years ago, back in 2022.”

To others with a birthmark, he said: “I think if you want to cover it up with make up I think you should express yourself and do that.

“But, personally, I always see it as something that’s beautiful, and it makes us unique.”